Search Climate Insights Directory

In 2024, the world commissioned the lowest amount of new coal power capacity in twenty years (44 GW), yet the global fleet still grew by 18.8 GW because additions exceeded retirements. While OECD countries and the EU are accelerating phaseouts—with the UK becoming the sixth country to eliminate coal entirely—China and India continue to drive global expansion. China saw its highest construction starts since 2015 (94 GW), and India recorded its highest year for new proposals (38.4 GW). Outside these two nations, coal development has declined for ten consecutive years. However, the report notes that current retirement rates in OECD countries must more than triple to meet 1.5°C warming targets.

The document identifies significant gaps in the implementation of procedural rights necessary to uphold the right to a healthy environment (RtHE) in Southeast Asia. It highlights how ambiguous disclosure requirements, lack of enforcement in environmental impact assessments (EIAs), and resource-constrained judicial bodies hinder environmental justice. The brief showcases emerging community-led assessments and judicial capacity-building efforts as potential solutions, while noting the ASEAN Declaration on the Right to a Safe, Clean, Healthy, and Sustainable Environment as a key regional entry point for improvement.

In 2024, global new coal capacity reached its lowest level in two decades at 44 GW, though China and India continued significant expansions. While the EU27 saw a fourfold increase in plant closures and the UK shut its last coal plant, Indonesia faces a contradictory trend: overall proposed capacity is down 90% since 2015, but 'captive' coal plants for industrial use are surging. Indonesia's transition is further complicated by conflicting government statements on a 2040 phase-out, the withdrawal of the US from the JETP leadership, and record coal production reaching 831 million tons in 2024.

In 2024, the world commissioned the lowest amount of new coal power capacity in twenty years (44 GW), yet the global coal fleet still grew by 18.8 GW because additions exceeded retirements. The report highlights a stark divergence: while the UK became coal-free and EU27 retirements quadrupled, China saw its highest construction starts since 2015 (94 GW) and India recorded its highest year for new proposals (38.4 GW). Together, China and India accounted for 92% of all newly proposed coal capacity in 2024. In the OECD, proposals have plummeted from 142 in 2015 to five today, though annual retirements must more than triple to 70 GW to meet 1.5°C pathways. The report also notes the rise of 'captive' coal plants in Indonesia and the promotion of ammonia co-firing in Japan and South Korea as strategies to prolong coal use.

The guide outlines the business case for inclusive advertising, citing increased sales and brand equity, and provides a detailed operational framework for implementing DEI across organisational structure, agency briefing, creative production, media placement, and talent management.

The Clean Air Task Force asserts that the EU is missing a strategic opportunity by excluding geothermal innovation from its Affordable Energy Action Plan. The author highlights that utilizing just 1% of Europe's high-temperature geothermal resources could produce 18,000 TWh of electricity. To avoid lagging behind competitors like China and Japan, the document urges the EU to publish a Geothermal Strategy by Q1 2026, include next-generation technologies in funding mechanisms like Horizon, and fully integrate geothermal into its broader energy security plans.

WRI and the Shenzhen government implemented 113 near-zero carbon demonstration projects, including rooftop solar and building retrofits, to address rising household energy demand. These initiatives are projected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 1 million tons and save residents US$ 280 million in energy costs. To ensure scalability and affordability for low-income groups, the city introduced a subsidy policy providing up to 1 million yuan per community.

Wells Fargo has withdrawn from the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) and subsequently dropped its 2030 sectoral financed emission targets and its 2050 net zero goal. While other major North American, Japanese, and Australian banks have also left the NZBA, most have stated they remain committed to their climate goals. Reclaim Finance argues that banks must continue to address financed emissions regardless of their membership in the NZBA.

The statement argues that large-scale forest biomass energy is not carbon neutral and actively harms the climate, biodiversity, and human rights. It claims that current carbon accounting erroneously labels biomass as zero-emission, which masks the actual greenhouse gas releases and encourages deforestation. The document further asserts that biomass energy extends the lifespan of coal plants and diverts investment from truly low-emission renewables like wind and solar. It calls on governments and financial institutions to stop the expansion of the biomass industry and eliminate related subsidies in favor of forest restoration.

In 2024, extreme heatwaves in China, the US, and India drove record air conditioning use, significantly increasing electricity demand and forcing a surge in coal and gas generation to meet the shortfall. The report highlights that cooling demand accounted for 37% of the US demand increase (April-September), 31% in China, and 19% in India for the same period. In China, coal generation grew by 10% in September 2024, while in the US, coal rose by 6.4% in June. The authors argue that relying on fossil fuels to meet cooling needs creates a feedback loop that accelerates climate change, recommending a transition to energy-efficient ACs, rooftop solar, and improved retail pricing to enhance grid resilience.

The report argues that the revision of the South Papua Provincial Spatial Plan (RTRWP) is being rushed and lacks transparency, primarily to facilitate National Strategic Projects (PSN) in food and bioenergy. This process involves the release and functional downgrading of over 700,000 hectares of forest, threatening 644,994 hectares of natural forest and 49 indigenous territories. The document highlights that bioenergy projects—including bioethanol, biofuel, and biomass—often prioritize exports over local needs and risk repeating past human rights violations. Furthermore, the plan overlaps with existing industrial forestry concessions (PBPH), suggesting a potential handover of land to corporations, and threatens High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA) essential for biodiversity and indigenous livelihoods.

The document explains that climate-resilient debt clauses (CRDCs) are contractual agreements that allow countries to temporarily postpone debt repayments following natural disasters, providing essential liquidity for emergency response. It details the design of these instruments—including parametric and proxy triggers—and discusses their adoption by Caribbean small island developing states and various multilateral development banks. The guide highlights challenges such as trigger identification and portfolio risk for regional banks, while providing a decision tree to help development finance institutions assess the feasibility of offering CRDCs.

The author contends that following the U.S. lead in abandoning the Paris climate accord would be 'economically perilous' for countries like Indonesia. He highlights the continued global acceleration of electric vehicle and solar energy growth, and cites specific policy actions in Japan and South Korea as examples of proactive decarbonization. The text argues that U.S. clean energy deployment is driven by economic sense and private sector investment, which will persist regardless of federal government policy.

The report argues that superhot rock (SHR) geothermal energy, defined as leveraging rocks at 374°C or above, has the potential to provide scalable, renewable baseload power at costs competitive with fossil fuels. While much of the necessary technology exists due to progress in unconventional oil and gas and next-generation geothermal, significant gaps remain in materials science, drilling efficiency, and reservoir stimulation. The most critical need identified is the establishment of laboratory and field facilities to test equipment under actual SHR conditions. Key technical hurdles include improving rates of penetration in hard basement rock, developing casing and cement that can withstand extreme thermal swings and corrosion, and creating reliable fracture networks in the brittle-ductile transition zone (BDTZ). Power production is the most mature segment, with most components at TRL 8-9, though integrated system prototypes and cost-effective turbine designs are still needed.

The report argues that achieving net-zero emissions requires a broad portfolio of zero-carbon technologies beyond wind and solar, including nuclear fission, fusion, and carbon capture. It introduces an Innovation Technology Framework based on the 'S curve' of innovation, which identifies critical development stages—R&D, early output, and commercialization—leading to 'market take-off.' The framework emphasizes four 'levers of success': lowering costs, speeding project deployment, easing access to financing, and removing ecosystem barriers. The authors advocate for a coordinated industrial policy that provides sustained public financial support until technologies reach the take-off point, typically defined as 1%-2.5% of global energy demand.

The report evaluates the health integration of NDCs from several countries, finding that while many recognize the health benefits of climate mitigation, most lack measurable health targets, dedicated funding for health adaptation, and alignment with 1.5°C pathways. It provides specific analyses for countries including Brazil, the UK, and the UAE, and offers recommendations for 'Healthy NDCs 3.0' that prioritize health as a central pillar of climate action.

The report identifies a substantial investment gap of approximately USD 146.4 billion to meet Indonesia's 2030 Enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (ENDC) targets. While the government budget provides about one-third of the necessary funding, private financial institutions' contributions remain low, representing only 3% of their total investments. Key barriers include contradictory policies, such as fossil fuel subsidies outweighing climate spending, and a financing mismatch where commercial banks rely on short-term deposits for long-term, capital-intensive climate projects. The report recommends harmonizing sustainable finance policies through the Indonesia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance (TKBI), enabling alternative instruments like sustainability-linked loans and carbon finance, and enhancing transparency via IFRS S1 and S2 disclosure standards.

The document critiques the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) for focusing on electricity infrastructure over economic diversification and worker needs. It argues that the South African Reserve Bank's (SARB) current inflation-targeting framework and operational independence hinder developmental goals. The author proposes a shift toward 'promotional' central banking, utilizing underexploited liquidity in the banking and retirement sectors—estimated at R52.41bn from banks and potentially R600bn from retirement funds via offshore limit reductions. Key recommendations include reforming the South African Green Finance Taxonomy (SAGFT), implementing mandatory climate risk disclosures, and using credit allocation tools such as targeted refinancing operations, green-differentiated capital requirements, and state investment banks.

The document contains technical appendices for a report on reforming environmentally harmful subsidies (EHS). It introduces a 'Fiscal Pressure' indicator to identify countries where high debt and deficits create strong incentives for subsidy reform, and provides a stakeholder analysis mapping the influence and attitudes of businesses, governments, consumers, and civil society toward EHS reform.

The report examines the implementation of the EU and UK Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms (CBAMs) and the preliminary findings of Australia's Carbon Leakage Review. It highlights the shift from free allocation of emissions permits to border adjustments to prevent carbon leakage, where emissions reductions in one country are offset by increases elsewhere. The EU CBAM is set for full implementation by 2026, and the UK CBAM by 2027. Australia is considering a BCA as a 'robust underpinning' to its Safeguard Mechanism. The document also analyzes WTO discussions from 2020 to 2024, noting a transition from general concerns about protectionism and WTO compliance toward specific discussions on cooperation and interoperability.